Tricky-Dick
Well-Known LVC Member
Why is it that Iowa Residents are cleaning up so quickly on their own when New Orleans Residents still haven't cleaned up? How impressive is that!
I wish them all the best and will have them in my prayers!
http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/floods/020606iowa.html
Iowa Residents Clean Up After Deluge
Written by Cynthia Long, RedCross.org, with news reports
June 6, 2002 — Iowa residents are mopping up and bailing out after torrential rains triggered widespread floods this week. Gov. Tom Vilsack declared seven eastern Iowa counties disaster areas and hundreds of people evacuated as rivers and creeks spilled over their banks.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said 10 cities in northeast Iowa were forced to bypass their wastewater treatment plants to prevent sewage from flooding basements.
In Dubuque County, Sheriff's Capt. Don Vrotsos said a record 5 inches of rain fell overnight on Tuesday (June 4). Residents of a trailer park on the north edge of Dubuque were evacuated after the Little Maquoketa River overflowed its banks. The flooding also prompted Dubuque officials to cancel classes on the last day of school.
As the floods began to recede, the fire department received requests to help remove water from more than 120 homes while others siphoned, shoveled and hosed out their homes and basements on their own.
“We had between 6 ½ and 9 inches of rain in eight hours,” said Kim Schwartz, volunteer and director of public support at the Dubuque Area Red Cross Chapter. The water rose so quickly that police and firefighters had to rescue people by boat.
“People who are not familiar with the Dubuque area don’t realize that this is a very hilly region, as in San Francisco hilly,” Schwartz said. “When we have torrential rains, it pours down the hills and forms rivers.”
After torrential rains, the actual rivers, such as the Little Maquoketa River, the Wapsipinicon, the Galena, the Rock River, and the Mississippi, swell into raging waterways. The Mississippi, which usually has a reflective gray cast, is now a roiling, muddy brown.
In the hard-hit town of Dyersville, Iowa, the usually mild Little Maquoketa surged over its banks and inundated the community, damaging or destroying every home. In the town of Maquoketa, the river reached a crest of 34 feet — 10 feet above flood level and the third-highest level on record.
Across the state line in Wisconsin, water flooded homes and caused gas tanks to dislodge from buildings in the Cassville area, officials said.
At least 500 homes were impacted in the chapter's service area, which includes counties in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. On Thursday disaster specialists were still conducting damage assessments.
Many homes had basement flooding, which isn’t a major problem for most people. In the Dubuque area, however, Schwartz said that basements are the primary residences of many people who live in multi-family homes. “That dramatically changes things in terms of what is damaged,” she said.
The chapter has opened two service centers — one is at the Cassville Memorial Hall on 100 W. Amelia Street in Cassville, WI, and the other is in Dubuque, IA, in the Irving Grade School gymnasium at 2520 Pennsylvania Avenue. A third will be opened in Dyersville.
At the service centers flood victims can receive assistance for food, clothing and medicines, as well as clean up kits and water safety kits to test their wells.
“This flash flood is worse than the flash floods that occurred here in 1997. This year’s flooding hit more areas and affected more people,” Schwartz said. Others are saying that the floods are the worst that have hit the area since the disaster of 1993 when the Mississippi and other area rivers deluged 11 states, affecting 66,000 people.
I wish them all the best and will have them in my prayers!
http://www.redcross.org/news/ds/floods/020606iowa.html
Iowa Residents Clean Up After Deluge
Written by Cynthia Long, RedCross.org, with news reports
June 6, 2002 — Iowa residents are mopping up and bailing out after torrential rains triggered widespread floods this week. Gov. Tom Vilsack declared seven eastern Iowa counties disaster areas and hundreds of people evacuated as rivers and creeks spilled over their banks.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said 10 cities in northeast Iowa were forced to bypass their wastewater treatment plants to prevent sewage from flooding basements.
In Dubuque County, Sheriff's Capt. Don Vrotsos said a record 5 inches of rain fell overnight on Tuesday (June 4). Residents of a trailer park on the north edge of Dubuque were evacuated after the Little Maquoketa River overflowed its banks. The flooding also prompted Dubuque officials to cancel classes on the last day of school.
As the floods began to recede, the fire department received requests to help remove water from more than 120 homes while others siphoned, shoveled and hosed out their homes and basements on their own.
“We had between 6 ½ and 9 inches of rain in eight hours,” said Kim Schwartz, volunteer and director of public support at the Dubuque Area Red Cross Chapter. The water rose so quickly that police and firefighters had to rescue people by boat.
“People who are not familiar with the Dubuque area don’t realize that this is a very hilly region, as in San Francisco hilly,” Schwartz said. “When we have torrential rains, it pours down the hills and forms rivers.”
After torrential rains, the actual rivers, such as the Little Maquoketa River, the Wapsipinicon, the Galena, the Rock River, and the Mississippi, swell into raging waterways. The Mississippi, which usually has a reflective gray cast, is now a roiling, muddy brown.
In the hard-hit town of Dyersville, Iowa, the usually mild Little Maquoketa surged over its banks and inundated the community, damaging or destroying every home. In the town of Maquoketa, the river reached a crest of 34 feet — 10 feet above flood level and the third-highest level on record.
Across the state line in Wisconsin, water flooded homes and caused gas tanks to dislodge from buildings in the Cassville area, officials said.
At least 500 homes were impacted in the chapter's service area, which includes counties in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. On Thursday disaster specialists were still conducting damage assessments.
Many homes had basement flooding, which isn’t a major problem for most people. In the Dubuque area, however, Schwartz said that basements are the primary residences of many people who live in multi-family homes. “That dramatically changes things in terms of what is damaged,” she said.
The chapter has opened two service centers — one is at the Cassville Memorial Hall on 100 W. Amelia Street in Cassville, WI, and the other is in Dubuque, IA, in the Irving Grade School gymnasium at 2520 Pennsylvania Avenue. A third will be opened in Dyersville.
At the service centers flood victims can receive assistance for food, clothing and medicines, as well as clean up kits and water safety kits to test their wells.
“This flash flood is worse than the flash floods that occurred here in 1997. This year’s flooding hit more areas and affected more people,” Schwartz said. Others are saying that the floods are the worst that have hit the area since the disaster of 1993 when the Mississippi and other area rivers deluged 11 states, affecting 66,000 people.